


Destruction

by highflyer101



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Addiction, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 17:43:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5937199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highflyer101/pseuds/highflyer101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Dr. Foster tries to convince Nurse Phinney to let him have morphine. He starts out trying to charm her into it. When that doesn’t work his desperation becomes evident.<br/>*****<br/>Mary has a fair amount of experience in flirting; she was married, after all. What's more, she's a nurse, and that should speak for itself. The majority of the soldiers are perfectly gentlemanly, of course, but it's not uncommon for a cocky, young private to make an inappropriate comment once in a while. All this, Mary can (and has) dealt with. It makes sense to her. There's reasons behind these men's behaviors: in the early days of her and Gustav's courtship, it was love. Now, for the soldiers, it is loneliness. This foreknowledge allows her to recognize Dr. Foster's odd behavior as an unexpected advance. The problem is that she cannot understand his motives in the slightest.</p><p>This is when Foster pauses in front of the supply closet door, and everything clicks into place.</p><p>"Good Lord," she can't help scoffing, slightly shocked at his nerve. "Doctor Foster, did you really imagine you could... seduce me into providing you with drugs?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destruction

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anon for the prompt to my tumblr, challengedbyreality.tumblr.com!
> 
> Hopefully you guys think Mary and Jed are in character here - it was really hard to write!! Comment and let me know!!

It feels a little callous to call a day in the hospital "slow," but that's what this one has been, at least for Mary. The clock is nearly striking nine, and all the men - even the more restless ones, suffering from what Dr. Foster calls "soldier's heart" - are in bed, she's only gone to battle with Nurse Hastings once, and, by some miracle, she's managed to assemble a reasonable array of boiled vegetables for dinner, with a bit of meat for the higher-ranking officers. To top it all off, there's no family visiting any patients today, so she should even get her own room tonight, a welcome relief from the unforgiving wood floor. 

This is, of course, when things begin to go wrong - God forbid the day be too pleasant. She is just preparing to retire for the night when Dr. Foster intercepts her, a certain mania lurking in his eyes.

"Nurse Phinney," he greets. His tone is not as bitter as usual, but it is jarring nonetheless. There's something unnatural about it, like he's forcing himself to behave. "How was your day?" She furrows her brow.

"Fine, Doctor. And yours?"

"Yes, fine," he mutters dismissively. All the while, he is almost _twitching:_ Mary can hardly find the words to describe his small, restless movements. "I wonder if you might care to walk with me for a while?"

The request is, unquestionably, bizarre. There's nowhere worth walking to in the hospital, no corner they haven't already memorized through their service, and he's given little to no indication that he enjoys her company enough to willingly spend extra time with her. (Well, other than their disturbing encounter when his mind was addled with morphine, but she can hardly count that as a true reflection of his feelings.) Yet there's not really a way for Mary to decline his request without seeming rude, and she really can't afford offending anymore of her coworkers. Besides, she has good reason to be concerned about Doctor Foster, and it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on him during this downtime. So she humors him, follows his lead on the strange stroll, and watches him closely.  


It would probably seem unlikely to an outsider, but Mary has a fair amount of experience in flirting; she was married, after all. What's more, she's a nurse, and that should speak for itself. The majority of the soldiers are perfectly gentlemanly, of course, but it's not uncommon for a cocky, young private to make an inappropriate comment once in a while. All this, Mary can (and has) dealt with. It makes sense to her. There's reasons behind these men's behaviors: in the early days of her and Gustav's courtship, it was love, and perhaps a bit of lust as well. Now, for the soldiers, it is loneliness and boredom. It is this foreknowledge that allows her to recognize Doctor Foster's odd behavior as an unexpected (maybe unwelcome, maybe not - she hasn't allowed herself to consider it, really) advance. The problem, however, is that, unlike the rest of her romancers, she cannot understand his motives in the slightest.

This is when Foster pauses in front of the supply closet door, and everything clicks into place.

"Good Lord," she can't help scoffing, slightly shocked at his nerve. "Doctor Foster, did you really imagine you could... _seduce_ me into providing you with drugs?"

The wooden facade drops instantly, and in it's place stands a man as desperate as a soldier pleading with the doctors to save his life. "Nurse Phinney, you must do this for me," he begs, face totally serious. Irrationally, Mary is a little disappointed that he does not even _try_ to deny it. Mostly, she is appalled.

"I cannot," she responds resolutely, equally determined. 

"But you don't understand," he insists, voice rising and face crumpling. "I _have_ to have it - I - I feel as though my skull will _burst - "_

__

"Doctor Foster - "

"This is not a mere- mere _craving,_ Mary; this is _necessity - "_

__

"You _must_ be strong - "

"I can hardly breathe," he rants, so quickly it is almost incoherent. "I _need_ it - "

"Jedediah!" On impulse, she grabs his face, and his body stills. His eyes still dart nervously around the room, but it is an improvement nonetheless. Gently, she directs his head further down the hall, toward the ward, where the soldiers either chat idly, or read. Some have even drifted off to sleep already, despite the relatively early hour. "Look at those boys, Jed," she urges, slowly removing her hands from his cheeks. "That's all they are: children. They _need_ you. And not the you that is- that is _jumbled_ , and confused from the morphine. They need a good, _competent_ doctor, and God knows we have few enough of those as it is. Please: do this for them."

It nearly brings tears to her eyes, saying these words. The truth in them is heartbreaking - the hospital is painfully understaffed, and they cannot risk losing any member of their team. More poignantly, Mary is keenly aware of the destruction all around them, even more so than usual. Teenagers are losing limbs and dying every day, every moment, it sometimes seems, and even someone as removed from the battlefield as Doctor Foster, who refuses to voice his support for the Union's true cause, who pays no attention to the color of a soldier's uniform, has been reduced to a rambling mess in the face of such stresses.

"I- I'm sorry," he stutters haltingly, whole body shaking. "I don't know what came over me." This is a lie; they both know what plagues him, what probably always will plague him. But the episode seems to have passed, for now. Mary smooths her dress and straightens, ready to return to normalcy.

"Think no more of it." She hesitates. "Go to sleep, Doctor Foster," she adds. "You need it." 

Then she leaves him, still trembling in the poorly lit hall, staring blankly down the ward.  


**Author's Note:**

> PS ayyy peep that first name usage ;)


End file.
